by Ronald Steel
First published 2017
Walter Lippmann arrives at Harvard as a brilliant young radical, studying philosophy under George Santayana and debating socialism with William James over tea. He launches his career at The New Republic just as America enters the First World War under Woodrow Wilson. For six decades, Lippmann shapes American public opinion through his writing, particularly his newspaper column "Today and Tomorrow." Millions of readers turn to him to understand the vital issues of their time. He witnesses two world wars and a depression that shakes American capitalism to its core. As he enters his eighties, he writes with passion about urban riots, the war in Asia, and a presidency in collapse. Ronald Steel documents the philosophers and politics, the friendships and quarrels that defined this man who stood at the center of American political life. Lippmann's career spans the rise and early decline of American empire during what historians call "the American Century." Steel reveals how one journalist became the mind, voice, and conscience of an entire era.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, american, political-science, non-fiction, journalism, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: biography, historical-drama
Setting: America, Asia, Harvard, New Republic
Period: First World War, The American Century
692 pages · Kindle Edition · Routledge